I Woke Up A Black Man

By Jamell Crouthers

Eric a white man wakes up one morning to find out he's a black man. While he does freak out, his life doesn't stop because of this. He goes out into the world to find out the stories his best friend Warren tells of being a black man has truth to them. Eric soon realizes that there is a huge race problem that exists in this country. After his experiences of being a black man, he understands that his white privilege has allowed him to get by in life and that change must happen and it starts with him. Sometimes to understand the racial issues that exist in this world, the roles must be reversed…

• Language: English
• Publisher: Jamell Crouthers
• Release date: Nov 10, 2019
• ISBN: 9781393327011

Jamell Crouthers

Jamell Crouthers started writing at the age of 13, it wasn't until his 30s where he realized he could impact others with his writing. Jamell was able to incorporate a prose format and social issues and be able to write books on what's going on in the world today. Writing about social issues is something that Jamell is very concerned about and his writing journey has allowed him to write books on various subjects. His goal is to change the world one book at a time.

Book preview

Foreword

Unless you are ready to accept and understand that racism exists in America and around the world, I strongly suggest you don’t read this book. While this is a fictional story, this is just a small amount of the realities of being a black man in America. If you don’t have an open mind about reading this content, I suggest you do not read this.

This book has vulgar language and will tackle issues that go on among black men in America. This is dedicated to all of the young black men and women lost to senseless acts of violence that deal with racism in America whether it be at the hands of police officers or citizens of this country. You are gone but never forgotten….

The Shock of My Life

Ahhhhh! What the hell is going on?!

Why is my skin darker?!

Oh no, this can’t be Eric,

This has to all be a bad dream.

Okay, get a hold of yourself,

Let me smack myself and see what happens.

Ahhh damn, this is reality,

How did this happen? Why did this happen to me?!

As I’m staring at myself in the mirror in my bathroom,

A bunch of things are running through my mind.

Is this some kind of sick joke being played on me?

I don’t get it, I’m a black man.

Okay, maybe it’s just my face and not the rest,

Ahhhhh! Oh my goodness! I’m black all over!

What the hell am I going to do?!

I can’t go to work like this, no freaking way!

This isn’t good, not good at all,

There’s no way I can tell anyone this.

Maybe I can just be black at home,

Go to sleep tonight and wake up tomorrow back to normal.

This can’t be some lesson that’s being taught to me right?

I looked up to the man above and asked him this.

This is all starting to make sense now,

All of those conversations I had with Warren.

See, Warren is my best friend, he’s a black man,

Who always tells me his experiences that he deals with.

I tend to take them like a grain of salt a lot of times,

Thinking to myself, it can’t be that bad to be black.

They have created hip-hop culture, great music,

Created clothing brands, set trends, that’s the bigger picture.

I understand that there are things that happen regularly,

But to sit here and believe all black men deal with it, hard to comprehend that.

Okay let me grab my wash cloth and try to wash my face,

Alright, it’s not coming off, this is going to be my life.

I’m a black man for however long the man above sees fit,

This is going to be very interesting, that’s for sure.

I called Warren to tell him what happened to me,

He definitely didn’t believe me and laughed out loud.

I told him to come to my house to see for himself,

Today, I was definitely going to be late for work.

When Warren got to my apartment, I opened the door,

His jaw dropped and he was astonished at what is happening right now.

He was speechless, didn’t know what to say,

It’s not like he could ask me how this happened because I don’t even know.

All he could say is, welcome to his world and it’s going to be crazy,

That he will be sure to make sure I experience everything he does.

Now things were about to get real, and now I was nervous,

The fact that I don’t know what’s to come is what scares me.

I live in a predominantly white neighborhood, not many black people live here,

So being black in this neighborhood spells trouble for me.

Going Out Into The World

Warren was waiting for me in the living room until I was ready,

As I threw on some dress clothes and got myself together.